Static Sparks
by Snake.B
Summary: One day Twilight decides to test her new alicorn magic on a new spell she comes across. The spell has a very unexpected result because of some interference and finds herself in a new world. Will Twilight and Spike be able to adjust to this new environment and completely different way of life?
1. Prologue

_**This is a story that I wrote on another site and thought I'd share it here as well. I hope you all like it despite the show that I'm crossing over with InFamous.**_

* * *

In the Castle of the Two Sisters, Twilight and Spike were in the library looking at the vast array of different books. Twilight was reading all of books that were not in her library and Spike was searching for a good story while giving Twilight any book he thought that she would find interesting (which meant pretty much all of them). She was reading a spell book that had a variety of different spells.

When Twilight noticed that Celestia's sun was setting and Luna's moon was rising, she called for her little brother and number one assistant. "Spike!" she yelled.

Poking his head around a book case he answered, "Yeah?"

"We stayed later than we meant to, it's getting late," Twilight said.

"We?" Spike asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Fine, 'I' stayed longer than we should have," Twilight corrected herself somewhat exasperatedly. "Anyway, we should head back before it gets completely dark outside."

Spike got very nervous, "Walk through the Everfree Forest at night? It's dangerous enough during the day can't we stay here tonight at least?" he asked hopefully.

"It's still somewhat light out Spike so we are going to head back before gets too dark." Twilight reassured him. Seeing that he was still a good deal nervous she thought of an alternative. "Well, I found a spell in one the books I was reading that I could test that should get us home, it's a more powerful teleportation spell that uses alicorn magic."

Spike asked, "Why can't you use a normal teleportation spell? Why use one you don't know very much about?"

Twilight sighed, "I don't trust the normal spell to get us through all the chaos magic in the forest. Hopefully, using a more powerful one will get us past it and home safely."

Spike mulled that over, "Yeah, I see your point and even though you've never used the spell I would rather take my chances with that then walk through the forest, especially at night."

Twilight giggled at his reluctance to walk through the forest. Even though she doesn't like to anymore than he does she would rather do that then fly or teleport through it, but seeing how reluctant Spike was to walk she decided to teleport. Plus she wanted to see the difference in the spells.

She levitated Spike onto her back and went outside. "Ready?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah! Let's go home, I'm exhausted," Spike yawned.

She prepared to cast the spell, "Alright, just a minute." As she was charging the spell, the magic in the forest started to surround her and got mixed into the spell. Twilight, so focused on preparing it, didn't notice what was happening until it was to late. "Spike, hold on tight!" she yelled. She braced herself for the unknown effects of the chaos magic as Spike tightened his hold on Twilight. They both vanished in a flash of violet light.

* * *

Meanwhile in Empire City...

Cole MacGrath was busy delivering a package to the Historic District. He swerved through the traffic in the streets to avoid the crowd of people on the sidewalks. After a half hour he saw his destination. Turning, he headed to 19th and Sloat where he was to deliver the package. As he neared to where it was to be delivered he saw a flash of violet and stopped, he got off his bike and put the kick stand down. He walked over to where the flash had occurred. When he got there he saw a woman a couple years younger than him, with violet hair and a pink highlight going down the length of it, on the ground. He ran over to her and gently shook her.

"Hey! Hey, lady this is no place to be laying on the ground," he said trying to wake her.

She started to stir and slowly opened her eyes, she sat up and reached a hand up to rub her head. She stopped when she realized something, she moved her hand in front of her face, stared at it for a minute or two, then sighed and grumbled, "Not again."

Cole, wondering what she meant by that, asked, "Are you ok? Who are you?"

Twilight looked at him and stared, his appearance confused her, he looked nothing like the humans on the other side of the mirror. _'He's very handsome, though,'_ she blinked, then chastised herself. _'This is no time to be thinking things like that. Where the hay did that even come from?'_ she wondered. She looked back at her hand and, examining it, noticed that she wasn't the same lavender as before, she was tan. She was wearing the same clothes as she did over there, except the boots only went up to her ankles. After a while of looking herself over she answered his questions, "I'm fine. My names Twilight Sparkle. What's yours?" She then looked around searching for someone. She started to panic and shout when she didn't see him, "Spike!? Spike! Where are you?"

He raised an eyebrow and thought, _'Twilight, Spike, what kind of names are those? She's rather beautiful, though,'_ he shook his head. ' _Come on, Cole you're in a relationship. You shouldn't be thinking things like that.'_ He told her, "My names Cole MacGrath. Don't worry I'm sure if you two were together you will find each other." He held out a hand to help her up, she took it and he pulled her to her feet. Just then he got a call. The man on the other end told him to open the package. He was going to refuse when the man said that it was for him. He was very annoyed that he went on a wild goose chase just to deliver a package that was apparently for him. He walked over the package took it in his hands. Twilight walked up next to him. He looked at her and arched a brow. When she saw his questioning look, she fidgeted, her eyes watering a little.

"You don't mind do you?" she asked. "I'm not from here, don't know my way around, and I'm alone without Spike."

Cole thought, _'I can't just leave her here with all the crap that happens in this city and if she just walks around blindly she'll get lost or run into some of the pieces of shit that don't care about people. She could end up getting hurt or worse.'_ He said, "Sure, I'll show you around and help you find your friend, after I see what's in this package." She nodded at him and he opened the package and took out a glowing blue sphere. They glanced at each other and looked back at the orb. After a minute, the sphere's glow brightened and they closed their eyes. Then there was a blast and they were knocked out from the force.


	2. After the Blast

After hearing the explosion, Zeke was racing through the city heading for the Historic District to look for his brother, Cole, and was looking for Cole's girlfriend, Trish, as he went. On his way to the bridge he noticed a young boy. He probably wouldn't have stopped for this before, but the boy was on the ground, in an alley, out cold. Knowing what this city was like he couldn't just leave him there. He jogged over to him, as he got closer he noticed that the boy looked to be at least 14 years old and had emerald green hair that was spiked up. Wondering what he or his parents were thinking, he knelt next to him and started to shake him.

"Hey. Hey, kid. Wake up! This isn't the time or place for takin' a nap!" he called.

The boy started to shift and groan. "Five more minutes Twilight," he moaned, turning over.

Zeke stared at the boy wondering how the hell he could sleep through an explosion. He started to shake the boy harder and raised his voice. "HEY! Wake up, kid."

The boy started to open his eyes, "Huh? What? Where?" He looked around bleary eyed. When he finished waking up his eyes widened and started to panic. "Where am I? How did I get here?" He paused and seemed to realize something, his eyes started to water, "Twilight? Twilight are you there?" When he looked at Zeke, Spike momentarily forgot his sadness looking in confusion at the man in front of him. He'd seen humans before, but they didn't look anything like him. For one he looked a good deal bigger than any other human he saw before, even bigger than Snips. He didn't think that they couldn't get that big, but he never saw one before. The other thing was that the man wasn't technicolor like the human counter parts of his friends. He looked down expecting to see himself as the dog he became when he went through the mirror. So, he was surprised to see that he was actually human here. He was wearing a purple jacket that had diamond shapes all over it. _'Like dragon scales,'_ he thought somewhat exasperatedly. He was also wearing a light green shirt, purple jeans and green and violet sneakers. After looking over his new form, he looked up at the man kneeling next him and asked, "Who are you? Where are we?"

Zeke had just been staring at the boy as he sat there panicking. He apparently had no idea where he was, but was with someone named Twilight before. When the boy asked him a question he was pulled from his thoughts. "My name is Zeke Dunbar. We are in Empire City, more specifically in the Neon District." he told him. "Who are you?"

"My name's Spike" he answered.

Zeke kept getting surprised by this odd boy. First, he was sleeping in an alley. Second, he has green hair and now he learned his name was Spike. He started to wonder what kind of upbringing he had, then remembered that he knew someone named Twilight and figured that was the answer. After recovering from that surprise he asked the boy, "So, what were you doing here, Spike?"

He looked around again, and tried to think of what he could tell him and not raise any suspicion. "I don't know. Last thing I remember I was with my sister in the park," said hoping that there was one in this concrete mass of land.

Zeke raised an eyebrow, "The park? You're pretty far from there, how did you get here?"

Spike started to get nervous and said, "Like I told you I don't know, I was there and now I'm here."

Zeke was still somewhat suspicious, but had bigger things to worry about. "Listen, kid there was a big explosion in the Historic District. My brother was near there and I'm worried as hell that he might have been near, or worse in the blast, so I need to go." He got up and started leave, but stopped when he noticed that Spike was following him. He looked at him questioningly.

Spike chuckled nervously, "Is it okay if I come with you? I don't know where Twilight is and I don't know my way around this place. Maybe we'll find her on the way or when we get there and find your brother."

Zeke hesitated, he was still somewhat worried about the things that the boy told him. He was in the park a good ways from here and somehow without him knowing traveled near the Fremont Bridge. He was thinking about telling him no, but after seeing how nervous and anxious he was, he decided that there was no harm in letting him follow. "Sure, kid. You can come and we'll find our friends in no time." he said.

Spike was glad he would be able to find his way through the city, but got confused. Something Zeke just said contradicts what he said before. "I thought you said you were looking for your brother," he said.

"Well he isn't actually my brother, but we have been through so much together I just feel that we are more than just friends." Zeke said.

Spike smiled, "That's actually the same with me and Twilight," then muttered to himself. "Well it's bit more complicated then that but."

Zeke heard him muttering, "What was that?"

"Oh, nothing. Just talking to myself," Spike said.

"Alright," Zeke said somewhat suspiciously. He still wondered about the boy, but was more concerned about Cole to think more on it.

With that the two headed to the Fremont Bridge in search for their friends and hoping that they were okay.


	3. Introduction

_**If you're wondering about why the third chapter is called introduction, I'm going to be naming the rest of chapters after the missions from the game.**_

* * *

Cole awoke with a start, his whole body was in pain. He slowly got up and groaned, "Ugh, what the hell happened?" He looked around and saw he was on a small pillar of rubble in a giant crater. "Holy shit. How did-" he stopped when he remembered there was someone with him earlier. He looked around and saw her a few feet from him. He moved over to her and checked to see if she was okay. He felt for a pulse, when he felt it he sighed with relief and took a closer look at her. There were a few tears in her clothes and under those were some rather big gashes, but thankfully they were cauterized so she wouldn't bleed to death. Her hair was burned a good amount, but she still had most of it and her skin was rather burned. _'If she's this bad I probably look just as bad if not worse,'_ he thought.

He started to gently shake her saying, "Twilight, wake up. Something terrible happened."

She started to get up and rubbed head then stopped and winced. "Ow. That really hurts." She looked at him and gasped, "Cole! What happend? You look terrible."

"Yeah, I hurt like hell all over. We both need to get out of here and get some help. We're both pretty banged up," Cole said.

She looked down at herself and winced again, "Yes, let's get out of-" Her words caught her throat and her eyes widened as she looked around and noticed the destruction around them. "I've never seen or even heard of this kind of destruction being possible. What in Tartarus could have caused all of this destruction?" she asked.

"I have no idea, but-" he paused and thought about what she said at the beginning of her question. "Tartarus?" he asked.

Twilight chuckled nervously, "Uh," but before she could come up with something they heard a noise that sounded like it was getting closer. Looking up they noticed a helicopter stopped high above them and shined a spotlight on them. Over a speaker, someone spoke to another person then addressed them.

"There is a couple of people alive down there. Hey, if you can hear me wave up here." They raised their hands and waved at the man. "If you can walk get out of there and head toward the bridge." There was an explosion behind them, the helcopter turned and they looked in the same direction. "Hey, you in the garage," he called over to someone. Cole and Twilight could only see the shadow of a man that did a weird gesture at the helicopter. Annoyed and after a car fell off of the building the the man in the helicopter yelled, "Get the hell out! The place is falling apart." It then took off in the direction the man seemed to go.

Cole looked at Twilight and asked, "Can you walk? If not I think I could carry you."

Twilight shook her head, "No, I'm okay enough to walk. Let's go."

He nodded and they started to make there way through the crater avoiding the fire and occasional small explosion. As they neared an convenient ramp of rubble and cars, a voice called out of Cole's phone.

"Cole. Hey, you there man? Come on pick up, Cole." It was Zeke.

"Zeke? I think there was a huge explosion. What the hell's going on?" Cole asked.

"Seriously, man? No, shit there was an explosion. People on the TV are saying there are terrorists bombing the place. Meet me at the Fremont Bridge. We'll find Trish and find somewhere to take over until it's over," Zeke explained what was happening and the plan he had. As they neared where they could get into the parking garage there was another voice coming through that Cole didn't recognize.

"What's a terrorist?" asked a rather young sounding voice. Cole was about to ask Zeke what he was doing with a kid when Twilight cut him off, with a slight hitch in her voice.

"Spike?" she asked hopefully.

The boy, Spike, yelled through radio, "Twilight! I'm so glad you are okay. I was worried when we got split up and Zeke said that there was an explosion."

"Yes, Spike. I -We- are rather banged up, but are okay for the most part," she told him. "We'll see you at the bridge, okay?"

"Yeah! See you then," Spike called back, then Zeke ended the call.

Cole looked at Twilight with a smile on his face, "Well, we found him easier than I thought we would, but too bad we couldn't have avoided whatever the hell happened to us."

"Yes, but we are still alive, somehow. So let's head the bridge," she gestured him to lead the way. "You know how get there better than I do." As the joy of knowing where Spike was and that he was safe started to set in, a thought hit her. _'Why was Spike talking to Zeke. He should know that dogs can't normally talk.'_ She was somewhat annoyed and worried that Spike, even if he was as happy as she was, did something that could get him into trouble. However, as she thought about it more she realized that maybe he wasn't a dog. They were in a different world than the one they went to before, so maybe he was changed into a human. That or the combination of alicorn and chaos magic might have done something.

Cole took the lead and stepped on to a car that was bridging the destroyed ramp to the building. Twilight followed behind him and as Cole passed an exposed generator, a bolt of electricity shot out and hit him directly. Twilight gasped and was about to head over to him when she felt a strange sensation and couldn't move. She couldn't describe what it was, but it was so sudden she froze in her tracks.

When the bolt of electricty died down, she regained herself then hurried to Cole's side and was surprised to see he was perfectly fine. She wasn't the only one.

Cole stared at himself in disbelief as the electricity seemed to crackle off of him and die away. "I should of died. What hell just happened?" he wondered.

Twilight walked up to him and tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder, "Let's get somewhere a little less dangerous and we'll figure it out together later."

He looked at her and nodded, "You're right. Let's get out of here first."

They continued walking through the parking garage avoiding the fires and anything that fell from the floor above. They saw a ramp and started to head towards it. Before they even got near it however, it collapsed and fell to the ground. They looked for another way across, but only saw a fallen pillar reaching halfway across the gap. On the other side there was another fallen pillar that reached little ways out.

Twilight figured she could get them across by flying except for two things. One, she wasn't really sure she could sprout her wings in this world (much less use magic). Two, if she could she couldn't be sure how Cole would react. Yes, she just met him, but he seemed like a nice guy and wanted to be friends with him, since for one thing she didn't have any friends here, except Spike, but he was more like brother to her. For another thing she didn't know anything about this city and would probably get lost. She was so lost in her thoughts she didn't notice that Cole was already starting to cross until he looked back and called to her.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked.

"Yes, just a little nervous walking across something like that," she told him. It wasn't a complete lie, she'd never walked across something like that even in her normal body, but in one she wasn't used to? She was very worried that she wouldn't be able to keep her balance.

Cole moved back across the pillar towards her. "Hey, it will be okay. Just follow me closely," he assured her. He held out his hand to help her onto the pillar. She took it and he helped her up, then he helped to keep her balance. "Alright, now let's cross it together." He moved across the beam slowly, while keeping an eye on Twilight. When he got to the gap, he jumped across and landed neatly on the other side. He turned back and called back to Twilight, "Alright you need to make a pretty big jump. I don't want to worry you, but I'm sure you noticed the metal jutting out of the bottom of the pillar."

Twilight did see the bottom of the pillar and became even more nervous at jumping across the gap. She backed up a little then, as fast as she could without slipping, she ran to the end and jumped. She landed on the pillar, but slipped. Luckily, she fell forward and she wrapped her hands and legs around the pillar to keep herself from falling. She winced as her burned and battered body hit the solid concrete. Cole walked over to her and helped her up. She looked up at him and smiled, "Thanks."

"No problem. Are you okay?" he asked, worried that the fall might have irritated the wounds on her.

She looked herself over. "Yes, I'm fine. A little more sore now, but nothing's reopened."

Cole started to sigh with relief, then stopped. He wondered why he was so worried. He felt it before, but thought that it was because he found out that she was still alive. Of course, he didn't want anything to happen to her, but he had just met her. He seemed to be having rather strong feelings toward the woman in front of him. It wasn't love, he still loved his girlfriend Trish. There seemed to be something about Twilight that made it to where he didn't want any harm to come to her. Maybe it was because she seemed so innocent. What with her not being from this city, she didn't know what kind of things could happen here. There's also the fact that she didn't seem to know that this kind of destruction, while terrible, isn't even near the amount of damage some of the weapons humanity has come up with can cause. He's never actually seen this kind of destruction before, but knew it was possible with the kind of things mankind can, has, and probably will come up with. He was pulled from his musings when Twilight asked him something.

"Cole, are _you_ okay? You spaced out for a while there," she asked.

"Yeah, I was just was thinking," Cole answered.

"Well, I like to encourage people to think and not just act, however maybe not when we are balancing on a pillar more than 30 feet in the air?" Twilight asked worriedly. She was doing her best to keep her balance on the beam, but the longer she just stood the more she felt like she was losing it.

"Huh? Oh, yeah let's get off of here," he said, remembering where they were. He turned and they walked off of the fallen pillar. He jumped down, and he looked back to Twilight climbing down, and apologized, "Sorry about that. I knew you were nervous about being on there and I just stood there staring off into space."

"It's okay," she told him, but then started to wonder. "How were you able to stand there like that? Not only were able to walk across very easily, you also jumped across like you've done it before and then just stood there like you were just standing on the ground."

"Well, me and Zeke used to climb buildings and do parkour." Cole looked at her and saw that she was surprised he climbed buildings, but then looked confused at the other activity. He decided to elaborate. "Parkouring is the activity or sport of moving rapidly through an area. It's usually in an urban environment, navigating obstacles by running, climbing, and jumping."

"Oh. That sounds pretty interesting," she then said to herself, "Rainbow Dash would probably love that."

Cole overheard her, "What was that?"

"Nothing," she said. "It wasn't anything important."

"Well, if you want I can show you how to do it," he offered. "It can come in handy in a city, especially this kind of city."

"I'm not much of an athlete, but if it could help, I'll try," Twilight replied. "I think we've kept our friends waiting long enough. Are we almost there?"

Cole answered, "Yes, it's close by. We just need to get down from here, somehow."

They started walking through the wreckage towards the edge to try and find a way down. As they got near the side of the parking garage, Cole got near an exposed cable and electricity jumped to him. As the electricity coursed through Cole, Twilight felt the strange sensation again, but this time it was a bit stronger. As the cable stopped shooting it out, Cole then unconsciously sent it in lightning bolts outward toward the cars and and portable generators causing them to explode. The explosion caused a portion of the floor to fall and make a way down to the street. When the bolts dissipated, Cole turned to Twilight to make sure she was okay. When he looked at her he saw that some of the electricity was arcing off of her. He rushed to her to make sure there wasn't anything wrong.

"Twilight! Are you alright?" he asked, his earlier worry surfacing again. He still wondered about these unexpected feelings, but was more concerned about Twilight.

When the electricity died down she relaxed and looked at Cole, "Yes, I'm okay. It's weird, I felt a strange sensation just now and last time you were struck by electricity." She looked at herself, "I don't feel like I was just hit with electricity either. Even if it wasn't a lot, I should of felt something."

The things that was happening to the two of them was confusing, to say the least. However, they were near their destination and they decided to head there before anything else. As they neared the bridge they saw police standing around civilians who seemed to be in need of medical attention. They didn't seem to even be able to stand much less walk. The helicopter from before flew past them, saying to the people on the ground, "Medical personnel are en route. Remain calm, those that can walk evacuate across the Fremont Bridge into the Neon District."

Cole, leading the way, headed through the police cars and people. Before they got near it, they saw and heard Zeke and a boy, most likely Spike from the green hair, standing in the middle of the bridge. Zeke shouted to them, "Cole, Twilight, over here, you two. We gotta get out of here."

Cole started forward again, but as he crossed in between the bridge's gates, the biggest bolt of electricity hit him from both sides. Twilight froze and started to twitch slightly, the strange sensation hitting her stronger than ever. After the bolts disappeared, giant bolts of lightning started to crash down around them. The lightning hit everything and everyone around them. They raced across the bridge doing their best to avoid the bolts. As they ran Twilight, through the strange sensation that was coursing through her body, noticed that Cole's arms were enveloped in electricity and more seemed to be drawn to him as he passed lights. When they finally reached the other side of the bridge, the electricity around Cole disappeared and the lightning stopped. As they came to a stop they both collapsed to the ground. They faintly heard Spike and Trish shout their names as they fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

 **Two weeks later...**

On the roof that the four friends turned into their home, Zeke was lying on the couch reading a comic, while Twilight and Spike were sitting in separate armchairs. Spike was also reading a comic, while Twilight was reading a book she had managed to find in the lock down. Cole was just standing off to the side. They were situated across from four TVs each one of differing quality. Next to the TVs was a fridge filled with a very limited amount of food and beverages. On the other side of the fridge were several speakers connected to the TVs. Spread out across the roof were several mannequins, lawn chairs, portable batteries, a table, and a bench. There were a few small and withered trees in pots.

Cole broke the silence, "Hey, Zeke, I thought you were going to watch TV."

He moved the comic to look at his friend, "The batteries are dead again. You mind puttin' on the freak show?"

"Zeke! That's no way to talk about that," Twilight reprimanded him.

Cole smiled, "It's fine, Twilight. We take jabs at each other from time to time. It's just a little ribbing between good friends. Did you or none of your friends do it?" He walked around the roof charging the batteries with the bolts of electricity he can shoot off.

Spike grinned, "Yeah, two of our friends are both athletes and sometimes they like to give each other a hard time."

"Well, that's different. They just poke fun at each other. The thing with Cole is-" she trailed off, not being able to think of a suitable phrase.

"Twilight it's fine. I know he was just joking. So, no harm done. Right, Zeke?" Cole reassured her looking at Zeke.

"Yeah, man. Just messin around. Sorry if you took the wrong way Twilight," Zeke apologized.

Twilight hung her head slightly, "No, I overreacted a little. I'm sorry."

Zeke waved the apology off, "Eh. It's no problem. You care a great deal about you friends, ain't nothing wrong with that." As he said that the TV turned on. "Alright boob tube's workin. Nice job, man."

Cole walked back to them, "Weird, it feels like I have more power than before."

"Really? Why don't you try frying the dummies back there. With all of the crazies out there, it would be nice to know how much power you have," Zeke advised.

Cole went around zapping all of the of the mannequins. Their arms, hands, and heads shot off of them.

"Whoo! Man you probably got enough power to take those nut jobs on the street out," Zeke cheered.

Cole chuckled, "Maybe, but I'm not going to go look for them."

"Didn't say you needed to. Just that you can take them if you need to," Zeke chuckling too.

Twilight suddenly stood up and looked at them, "Cole, Zeke, there's something we need to tell you," she motioned to Spike. He put the comic down and walked with her to an open part of the roof. "We've been meaning to tell you, but after you got out of the hospital the two of you spent most of your time getting control of Cole's powers. Which I can understand. You needed to get them under control so nothing like the first day happened again and it gave us some time to see if we really could do what we are about to show you. Ready, Spike?" she asked him.

He looked at her worriedly, "Are you sure? There's no telling how they're going to react."

"Yes, we need to tell them. I can't keep this from them. What if they are in trouble? They need to know so we don't have to hold back," she told him.

Cole and Zeke looked at them. Cole said, "Hey, whatever it is we'll stay friends. You became my friends even though you just met me and stayed friends after we figured out that I'm a human light socket."

"Yeah, well you seemed like a nice person and just because you had lightning coming out of you hands doesn't make you a different person," she said as if that was obvious. "Anyway, I'll show what it is about me first." She closed her eyes and focused.

Zeke and Cole looked at her wondering what she was doing. Suddenly, lavender wings sprouted from her back and she started to flap them. She hovered off of the roof's floor. She opened her eyes to look at them to see their mouths slightly ajar.

Zeke, still out of it from the shock, asked, "Are you an angel?"

Twilight, Spike, and even Cole, snapped out of it by the question, stared at him. After a minute, Twilight facepalmed, Spike burst out laughing, and Cole started chuckling.

Instead of answering right away she lifted her hand. It was enveloped by a magenta aura and they heard something move behind them. They turned to look and saw one of the lawn chairs floating, enveloped by the same aura that was around Twilight's hand. After holding it for a little while she set it down and looked at them.

Cole spoke up first, "I don't really get it. Isn't this the same as what happened to me. I mean, yeah I can't grow anything, but couldn't that be your power?"

"Yeah. You were with him when he got his powers. Aren't these the same thing?" Zeke agreed.

Twilight shook her head and said, "I knew you would say that. That's why I showed you myself first. Spike, would you?"

Spike nodded. He closed his eyes like Twilight did and concentrated. Cole and Zeke's eyes widened as Spike's skin changed purple and became reptilian. He also grew a tail with an arrowhead tip and his hands turned into claws. When he opened his eyes his pupils had become slits.

They stared at him for several minutes before Zeke finally managed to say, "Holy shit. So he's a lizard man?"

Spike fumed at him, "No! I'm not a lizard. I'm a dragon!" To make his point he blew a long stream of fire toward the sky.

While Cole and Zeke stared, Twilight started to explain, "You see, we actually aren't from this world. We are from a world called Equis. The country we are from is called Equestria and the population is pretty much all ponies." They started to open their mouths, but she cut them off, having an idea of what they were going to say. "Yes, after spending time here and somewhere else, I noticed that a lot of the names we give places, and sometimes ourselves, are puns," she continued where she left off. "There are four different types of ponies. The three most common are unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies. What I am is called an alicorn and there are only four of them in Equestria. We have the abilities of all of three races of ponies," she paused letting the information sink in and seeing what there reaction would be.

They sat there thinking over what they were just told. The more Cole thought about it the more it actually made a little sense. The first thing is that before he found her, he had seen flash of violet light where there hadn't been anything previously. The other thing was that she didn't seem to know much about things that most people know at least by high school. She and Spike had both freaked out when they heard gunshots in the street. Usually there would be nothing unusual about that, most of the time when a gun is fired it isn't good. They, however didn't even know what the sound was. Just that there was a loud bang.

As he thought about that a few things stood out to him. He decided to ask her, "You say you are from a different world, but you weren't very surprised by some of the things we came across. You also said that you went somewhere else besides here and your world."

"The answer to both of those questions is the same," Twilight answered. "In our world there is a magic mirror that opens up to another world. The world on the other side of the mirror opens up to a similar world to ours, except for a few things. They were humans and were more technologically advanced than us. What makes me think that is close to being the same as Equestria is because I found people exactly like my friends. They were identical: same name, same hair color, same personalities, even most of their skin color was the same color as ponies coats. I think the difference in what happened was that we didn't enter the mirror, I teleported us here by accident. That's the reason that we ended up here instead of there."

Zeke asked, "Okay, so you teleported here, but _how_ did you teleport here? I mean if you can do that how did you mess it up?"

Twilight blushed slightly and explained, "Well, I used a new spell that I found. Spike didn't want to walk through the Everfree Forest at night," seeing their confused expressions she explained. "It's a forest near the town we live in called Ponyville. It's filled with chaos magic and a great deal of dangerous creatures. We were in it because there was a castle there that the Princesses used to live in. I was reading all of the books in the castle's library and I spent more time there than I meant to. I came across a book full of spells and one of them was a more powerful teleportation spell. It used alicorn magic instead of regular magic. I went outside to use the spell, so that I could get a better heading of where to go. When I started to cast it, the chaos magic that ran through the forest got infused in the spell and instead of teleporting home, we were teleported here."

Cole and Zeke sat on the couch processing everything they had been told and showed. Cole was the first to speak up. "Well, this doesn't really change much." Twilight and Spike turned to look at him looking slightly surprised, even Zeke looked a little taken aback. "What? As she said with me, this doesn't change who they are. Yes, they aren't _technically_ the same species, but while they are here, Twilight and Spike _are_ human. They are also two amazing people that care and trust us enough with their secret."

After contemplating it for a few more minutes Zeke nodded, "He's right. You are still the same people we spent weeks getting to know and became pretty good friends with."

Twilight and Spike stood there shocked by how easily they were willing to except what they had told them. After a moment, grins broke across their faces. They were so happy and relieved that they accepted what they told them and still considered them friends. They then heard something. Turning toward where the noise was coming from, they saw a big plane flying rather low above them.

Zeke shouted, "Whoa! Holy crap. That thing was flyin' so low I thought it was going to crash into us!" Turning his attention back to the TV, he saw that it was starting to static. As it refocused there was a man that had become rather popular during the quarantine. "Hey, guys its the TV jacker. I love that guy."

The TV jacker started to rant over the air waves, "Just got word that the feds dropped some relief packages into Archer Square, the liars at the corporate media tells us that we're gonna get our fair share, that more is coming, heh, that's easy for them to say! **They're** not the ones living in this hellhole! And truth is that no one is coming to save us. We've been abandoned. So, before the Reapers decide to show up, head over to Archer Square to get the food before them. Voice of Survival out." The broadcast was cut and it went back the normal programming.

Cole looked at Zeke and said slightly smug, "Told you they'd drop food."

"Man, Cole, you think any of those pencil-necks gives a crap about us? You're outta your mind. This is just a PR stunt," Zeke replied.

"That isn't going to stop you from pigging out, though, is it?" Cole asked, even though he already knew the answer.

Zeke grinned, "Hell no it ain't. Zeke's gotta eat."

"I'm going to take the express elevator. You take the stairs," Cole said. He walked in front of one of the gaps in the fence.

"Man you get to have all the fun," Zeke mumbled.

Spike walked up to Cole and asked, "Can I go with you?"

Cole looked down at the little dragon-boy. "I don't know. Can you take the impact?" he asked.

"While I'm in this form I can take pretty much anything. Dragon scales are really thick and trust me we are very durable," Spike told him.

Cole shrugged, "Alright. If you say so." With that the two ran to the edge and jumped, ignoring Twilight's panicked protests.


	4. First Glimpse

Cole and Spike landed on the street. The force from them falling from six stories cracked the ground beneath their feet. They looked at each other and grinned. Cole said, "So, you can take the force of the landing. Cool."

Spike was about to say something, but fell silent when he heard Twilight yell. "Spike! I know you are a dragon and can take a good deal of punishment, but I would rather you didn't jump off of buildings just to do it. And Cole I would rather you didn't encourage him to do that kind of stuff," she called to them, gliding down to them while holding Zeke in her magic.

Cole looked away as she got closer. When he heard her land he turned back. She looked somewhat confused at his behavior. Instead of explaining it he told her one reason why he had let Spike jump with him. "Sorry about that Twilight, but now we know he can get away from trouble, if he gets trapped on a roof."

She still didn't like it, but saw his reasoning. "Alright, I see what you mean. It's good to know that he won't be trapped on the roof of a building." She glanced at him and asked, "Cole, why did you look away as I got closer?"

Cole could feel the heat on his face. "Uh, it's not something that I can explain, since I'm not a woman," he murmured.

She still didn't really understand, but the look on his face and what he said made her feel rather embarrassed. She looked at her skirt and focused her magic on it and turned it into jeans. She looked at him and, feeling slightly flushed, asked, "Is that better?"

Cole nodded, "Yeah, with you being able to fly and so many people in the city, it's probably better this way. If you're still confused, you could ask Trish."

"Hey, guys if your done, before we head to Archer Square, I need to go get a new gun," Zeke called back to them. He had started walking forward.

Cole rolled his eyes as they started to follow him. "Here we go."

"Nah, that was amazing. The second you touched it, the electricity in your hands cooked off the gun powder and the whole thing just explodes! The look on your face was priceless," Zeke said.

"The damn thing nearly blew my hand off," Cole sighed.

Zeke grinned, "Which is why you won't be touching this one. I traded one of my home-made batteries to a guy for it."

Cole raised an eyebrow, "You mean the ones that blow up when you use 'em?"

"Hell, he doesn't know that. C'mon, he told me that he was going to leave it in a parking lot a few blocks from here," Zeke said.

They followed Zeke as he made his way to his destination. "So, while we head there, how about you two tell us more about your friends and world," Cole suggested.

"Yeah, even with the little that you told us, your world sounds pretty interesting," Zeke agreed.

Twilight nodded, "Okay. Well we have five close friends. Their names are Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. Together we made up the Elements of Harmony."

"Okay, first off those are some... interesting names. Second, the Elements of Harmony and what do you mean 'made up'?" Cole asked.

"The elements are six ancient artifacts. Each of the artifacts represents a different aspect of harmony. They are honesty, loyalty, generosity, laughter, kindness, and magic," she explained. "We each represent one aspect of the elements. Applejack is honesty, Rainbow Dash is loyalty, Rarity is generosity, Pinkie Pie is laughter, Fluttershy is kindness, and I represent magic. One day the Tree of Harmony was in danger. The magic that was protecting it faded. We had to give up the elements to protect it and Ponyville from some plants called Plunder Vines."

"So, what did you do with the elements?" Zeke asked

"We used them to protect Equestria if we came across something that couldn't deal with ourselves. Luckily, we only had to use them a few times." Seeing them about to ask, she told them of the instances they used them. "We used them on Princess Luna. A thousand years ago, Luna grew jealous of Princess Celestia. The ponies of Equestria stayed awake and enjoyed day, but slept and ignored the night. Luna let the resentment grow until she was corrupted and turned into Nightmare Moon. Celestia had to banish her instead of removing the darkness from, because both she and Luna were needed to use the full extent of the elements."

Cole stopped her, "Wait, you have two princesses? And they are a thousand years old?"

"We actually have four princesses, as of late, but _they_ are the rulers of Equestria. Yes, they are a thousand years old, if not older," Spike spoke up.

Zeke stopped, "Okay, first off we are here. Second, you have four princesses?"

"Yes, Princess Celestia who raises the sun, Princess Luna who raises the moon, Princess Cadance who rules the Crystal Empire, and the recently appointed Princess Twilight Sparkle," Spike listed them off.

"The other instance," she continued, hoping that they wouldn't dwell on her being a princess, "was when we confronted Discord. He is the spirit of chaos and disharmony. He made a whole bunch of strange things to happen. He made cotton candy clouds that rained chocolate milk, he partly dismantled Ponyville, he would mess with ponies just for the heck of it, and many other things. The worst was when he made my friends turned the opposite of themselves. He made Applejack a liar, Pinkie a grouch, Rarity greedy, Fluttershy into a jerk, and Rainbow into betraying her friends. It's one of the reasons that it's hard to trust him," she muttered.

Cole asked, "What do you mean? Why would you need to trust him, isn't he turned to stone?"

"He was, but Celestia had some ideas of things he could do to help Equestria with his magic. She asked us, more specifically Fluttershy, to try to get him reformed," Twilight explained. "She succeeded and Discord isn't causing chaos across Equestria."

As Twilight finished her explanation they walked over to four cars. Zeke groaned, "Aw, man. He said he was going to leave it under a car. Thought there was only going to be one of them. You mind Twilight?"

She was about to oblige when Cole walked forward. "Hold on. I have an idea I want to try. Stand back a little." They walked back a good distance from the cars.

Cole stood behind the first car in line. He held out his hand and concentrated the electricity into it. He then brought both hands up and pushed outward. A shockwave of electricity shot out and pushed the car away. He did this for each car, standing off to the side and aiming at the trunks so that hopefully he wouldn't hit the gun. When he moved the last car they saw the gun. Zeke walked up to it, picked it up, and put it in his pocket.

"Hellacious! Hell, I didn't know you could do that," Zeke said.

Cole swayed a little, "I didn't either. There was this... surge."

Zeke looked at him concerned, "You okay man? You don't look that great."

"I think I used to much power. Hang on," he closed his eyes and concentrated when he did he could feel every source of electricity around him. After a second he walked to a power box on the side of a building. He held out his hands and the electricity from the power box went into him. After he finished he stopped swaying and stood up straighter. Cole looked at Zeke, "Did you see that?"

"Man, your like a walking battery. I guess after shooting off a bunch of electricity you'll need to recharge," he said.

"I can feel the electricity surging through me, like it's healing me," Cole said, shocked.

They heard Spike talking and looked over to him and Twilight.

He looked at her worriedly, "Are you sure you're okay Twilight?"

She smiled at him warmly, "Yes Spike. I'll be fine. I also think I know why I felt that. I had my suspicions before, but after that I think it confirms it." She looked over at them. "Cole, I think that blast did do something to me. I think it connected me to you in some way. Whenever you feel a new sensation involving your powers, I feel it too. Not to the same extent obviously, but I feel it."

Cole thought to the instances after the blast. "I guess that makes sense. Every time I was hit with electricity the first day was different. Each one was more powerful than the last. So you felt a faint sensation of what I was feeling. It would also explain why I have powers and you don't have anything beyond your normal abilities," he said. "I think you are also at least somewhat resistant to electricity now. Remember the second bolt?"

"Yes, I didn't feel anything," she said. "Why don't we test it? Hit me with a bolt."

"Are you sure?" Cole asked concerned.

"Yes, it would be good to know whether or not you'll need to watch out for me if we get into trouble because you aren't leaving me behind," she answered.

"Even if you are immune I'm still going to watch where I'm blasting. I get what you mean though, so let's do it," he agreed. He walked a few feet back, turned and readied his attack. He hesitated, he really didn't want to risk hurting Twilight. Even if she wanted him to and he agreed that she had a point, it was hard to actually do. He took aim, shot, and quickly shut his eyes just before the bolt reached her. He heard her grunt from the impact, but nothing else. Slowly, Cole opened his eyes and looked at Twilight. She stood there and seemed rather surprised that nothing seemed to have happened. Just to make sure he asked, "Did you feel anything?"

She looked at him and grinned, "The impact took me by surprise, but I didn't feel any electricity."

Cole released the breathe he didn't know he was holding. "Well that's good."

"Alright, now that we got that sorted out and I have a new gun, let's head down to Archer Square 'fore someone takes all the brewskis," Zeke said.

They started walking toward their destination. Spike looked between Twilight and Cole and asked her, "So, how connected to each other do you think you are?"

She looked at him, "I think we are just connected by powers. If it was anything more we would have felt and/or noticed it by now," she looked at Cole. "You haven't felt anything else, have you?"

He shook his head, "I haven't really felt _anything_. I didn't even know we were connected until you said something. I mean, I did wonder about what was happening to you the day of the blast, but afterwards I kind of thought you were experiencing the effects yourself. I guess, you were in a way."

Zeke decided to bring up the previous discussion, "So, you are a princess, huh?" He grinned, "Should we be calling you 'Your Highness'?"

The guys all chuckled, while Twilight shook her head, "No. For one thing I just became a princess. For another I don't want my friends treating me any differently then they have. That includes you two."

"Alright, Twilight we understand. We won't treat you any differently then we have been. Right, Zeke?" Cole assured her.

Zeke smirked and said slightly sarcastically, "Sure, 'Your Majesty'."

Twilight rolled her eyes, but smiled, "Thanks, guys."

As they walked, Cole got a call from Trish, "Cole, you there?"

He smiled, "Hey, babe."

"You heard they dropped food?" Trish asked.

"Yeah, the four of us are heading over there now," he told her.

"How are the two of you feeling?" she asked.

"We are okay, I guess. My powers are all over the place. I could barely even power a light bulb before, now I'm jumping off of buildings and frying the stuff on Zeke's roof. Twilight can take bolts of my electricity without really feeling anything. She wanted to see if what happened the day of the blast was a permanent thing or not," he told her. He regretted he did, when she shouted at him.

"You jumped off a building and Twilight asked to be hit with a bolt of electricity? What were the two of you thinking?" she reprimanded them.

"Relax, we are both fine," he assured her.

Her voice cracked slightly, "Just be careful. After what happened to Amy, I couldn't..."

Cole became more serious, "Yeah."

"See you all at Archer Square. I love you," Trish said.

"You too," he told her.

Twilight felt a slight pang in her heart. She didn't understand what it was. She felt it whenever Cole talked to Trish in such a way. She dismissed it, thinking it was nothing too important.

They ended the call. Zeke looked back at Twilight, "You know, I've been wondering. Does that design on your jeans mean anything or is it just that, a design?"

She looked at what he was talking about and told him, "Here it isn't more than a design, but back in our world this is my cutie mark."

Cole looked at her, "Cutie mark?"

"Yes. Ponies aren't born with them, however. They appear on a ponies flank when they discover their special talent. Mine is a starburst which represents my talent for magic. Celestia and Luna's cutie marks are the sun and moon, respectively," Twilight explained.

"That's pretty interesting," Cole said.

* * *

When they finally reached Archer Square, they saw people standing around the statue there. A few people were throwing rocks up at something. When they looked up they saw what. The crates of food were stuck at the top of the statue.

Twilight looked around, "I'm going to fly up there and get it." She was about to bring out her wings when Cole stopped her.

"How about we test out your climbing ability?" he suggested. "The two of us race up the statue and see who gets there first."

She thought about it, "Yeah, okay. It will be a good chance to see how much I've improved."

Spike spoke up, "You're pretty good Twilight. You've certainly gotten a little buffer doing this."

"He's right. No offense, but you were pretty spindly when you got here. You've certainly gotten stronger in your time of climbing and parkouring," Cole told her.

Twilight blushed slightly at the compliments, "It's fine. As I told you after we got to know each other, I was somewhat of a shut-in even after making friends. Even though I have the abilities of an earth pony, I don't use them very often. So they're not very developed."

Twilight and Cole each stood next to a flag pole that was in front of the structure of Archer Square. They took off at the same time. Cole moved slightly faster than her, but she was keeping pace. She was right behind him as they jumped from the poles to the platform the structure was on. There was only one way to get up, a bent pole that connected to a small platform connected to the statue. They raced to it. Twilight managed to reach it first and started to climb as fast as she could. Cole was right behind her as they reached the platform, but when they jumped to the next one he managed to get ahead of her. He reached the thin metal bar first and rushed across it to the crates of provisions.

When he reached it he turned to Twilight, who was panting, and, slightly panting himself, said, "That was great! You were right behind me pretty much the whole time and you even got ahead of me."

She blushed at his praise, "Well I had a great teacher." She straightened, "Alright, time to get this down for everyone. You want to do it or should I?"

He smirked, "After you, your highness."

Twilight scoffed, "Ha ha. Fine, I'll shoot it down." She raised her hand, aimed at the rusted hook, and shot a magenta beam at it. The bound crates fell and crashed to the ground. As the fastens broke and the crates scattered, people surrounded them. Twilight was feeling good until Cole cursed.

"Damn, we were too slow," he swore.

They watched as Reapers, people who had been people who were just a bunch of junkies, but after the Blast they took over the Neon District. As they saw the Reapers charging toward the crates and shooting anyone in the way, Cole was debating jumping down and using the Thunder Drop move he came up with. He decided against it because there were too many civilians running around. They could also see Spike and Zeke engaging them as best they could.

He looked at Twilight and asked her, "You ready to show the pieces of shit that they can't do whatever they want anymore?"

She nodded, "Yeah. I'll protect as many civilians as I can while you take care of them. I'll help you out when I can."

"Alright, don't forget to look after yourself," Cole told her.

With that he jumped of the structure and Twilight unfurled her wings then glided down. She placed shields around any civilian in the area and levitated some of them off to safety. When Cole reached the ground he sprinted toward the Reaper dodging his bullets. When he was near him he charged lightning into his hands and turned them into blades. He hit the Reaper square in the chest. The gunner was sent flying and landed on the ground, where he laid unconscious.

They heard more gunshots and screams. They turned and saw two Reapers on each side of the square. Cole ran to take care of the two to the right of them. One went down after taking three bolts to the torso. The other one went down instantly when he was hit in the head.

Spike and Zeke turned to the back. Each of them took one of the Reapers. Zeke managed to incapacitate one by shooting him in the legs and arms. While Spike raced up to the other one. Bullets glanced off of his scales. He raised his hand up and when he got to the Reaper, he brought it down as hard as he could. His punch sent the gunner back several feet, where he laid, knocked out.

Twilight turned to the left and shot at them with beams to freeze them in place. She hit one and he encased in a block of ice. The other dodged the beam and shot at her. She managed to conjure a shield to block the bullets, but not before one managed to hit her in the side. She screamed in pain.

Cole and Spike whirled on the spot, and shouted in rage, "Twilight!"

Spike, being closer, charged at the man and, when he was close enough, inhaled and blew a torrent of fire at him while still running. The Reaper jumped to the side, but that was exactly what Spike wanted. He jumped at the man and gave him a roundhouse kick. He was sent flying into a light post, which bent from the impact and fell over. After making sure he wouldn't get up, Spike ran back to Twilight.

Cole and Zeke were already there. Zeke standing by her and Cole kneeling next to her. Spike came up to her and knelt down as well. He looked at where she was shot. It was bleeding pretty badly.

Cole recovered from the shock and said, "We need to find you some help. We need get-" he stopped as Twilight held up a hand.

"Hold on. I have some healing magic," she told them. She focused her magic on the wound. After a few seconds the bullet came out and after a minute or two the wound started to heal. She inspected the area where the wound was. Then slowly stood up and felt to see if the pain was gone. When she was satisfied that it was gone, she looked at the guys and smiled.

They looked at her wide-eyed and slightly slack-jawed. Spike finally asked, "How did you do that? I mean, I know it was a healing spell, but they are usually for small injuries. Yeah, your special talent is magic and since becoming an alicorn you have more magic and it's more powerful, but I don't think even then it could heal that so quickly."

"I think it was a combination of my alicorn magic and the effects from the blast. I think it enhanced some of my spells, so a healing spell for a cut could heal a bullet wound. Plus it just went into my side, it didn't hit anything," she explained.

Cole smiled with relief. He looked around and noticed the people start to try and open the crate of food. He had a several thoughts. ' _There's a lot of food here. Probably enough to feed the five of us for a few weeks, maybe more. If I attack a couple people in the crowd the others will probably scatter. We will have the food all to ourselves, but some them might starve,'_ he debated over it and decided against it. _'No, I won't be like the Reapers and take what little they have for myself. Even if it's to help my friends, they wouldn't appreciate what I did to others to do it. Especially the girls.'_

They split into two groups, each going to one of the crates, and started to open them. While they worked, Twilight felt an odd sensation. It felt incredibly warm, not uncomfortably so, but it was so unexpected it took her by surprise. It felt similar to the other instances, except that it felt good, where as the others felt either bad or like jolts. She wondered what it could mean, but shrugged and continued opening the boxes.

Trish walked over to them and said, "Thank you two for getting that food down and taking those guys down." She looked at Twilight and saw the blood on her clothes. Her eyes widened, "Are you okay? You have blood all over you." She took a closer look at where it was, but saw no wound.

"Yes, I'm fine. I was able to heal myself," she told her.

"You can heal yourself?" she asked. "Is that what the blast did to you?"

"That's part of it," Twilight said. "I'll tell you later," she added noticing one of the big TVs being jacked by the Voice of Survival.

"Take a look at this Empire City," the image on the screen changed to Twilight and Cole standing next to each other. "This image was taken from a surveillance camera near ground zero. They ruined our city, our lives. So if someone from your family died now you know who to blame. If you know anything about these people let me know. We need to get word out on these terrorists. Whoever they are we are going to make them pay."

* * *

 _I couldn't do anything but stare at the TV as the message finished. The only thing I could remember was going to work then running for my life alongside Twilight. But that video, I couldn't remember how I got that package and couldn't understand why I would deliver a bomb. However, I knew that the consequences of my actions, whether I knew about the bomb or not, were everywhere. Whatever had been between me and Trish disappeared. After seeing the message, she didn't say anything, showed any emotion, nothing as she walked away without even looking back. Soon, the people around them were starting to recognize me and Twilight. I knew things were going to get nasty and noticed that even Zeke was giving me weird looks. We quickly made plans to meet up at Stampton Bridge. I just hope he shows because, besides Twilight and Spike, I'm a little short on friends._

* * *

As Trish walked away Twilight was overcome with emotion. She felt sad, angry, shocked, and ...joy? Sad that Cole's relationship ended. Angry that Trish wouldn't trust or even hear him out. Shocked that she would just end it like that. Why was she feeling joy? Her friends heart was just broken, she shouldn't be feeling anything like that. She was so out of it she didn't noticed that Zeke had left until someone hit her with a rock.

She grunted, "Ow. What was that?"

Spike shouted, "Hey! You leave her alone." He was about to find who had hit her, but Twilight put a hand on his shoulder and shook her head. "But, Twilight they-"

Cole spoke up, "Don't, Spike. You'd just be giving them another reason to hate us."

She smiled, "I'll be fine, Spike. I can heal myself, remember? Besides it's not anything serious."

"Let's get out of here. Me and Zeke are going to try and leave. We are going to Stampton Bridge to try and leave the city. You want to come?" he asked.

Twilight and Spike looked around and answered simultaneously, "Yes."

As they headed to their destination they climbed on to the buildings to avoid the rocks being thrown at them. They jumped from building to building towards the bridge.


	5. Escape

As they headed toward the bridge, Cole got a call from Zeke. "Listen man, I'm almost at the bridge. Since everyone hates you and Twilight's guts, we gotta get outta town, pronto-like," Zeke told them.

"We'll be there soon. And Zeke - thanks for having my back," Cole said.

Zeke chuckled nervously, "Sure man, I ain't about to do anything to piss you off. See ya." He ended the call.

Cole sighed, while Twilight looked livid. Seeing this, Cole placed a hand on her shoulder. "Look, Twilight I don't really blame him for being nervous. I had that package and now I have electric powers. Until I earn his trust back, he is going to be on edge, but at least he's willing to help me," he soothed.

She calmed down, but was still angry, "You shouldn't have to earn his trust back. You didn't do anything wrong. I don't remember everything that happened that day, but you didn't know what was in that package. Right, Spike?"

"I don't know Twilight. Him just having the package with the bomb that caused this is pretty suspicious. I trust you, however, Twilight, so if you believe Cole, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt," Spike said.

She sighed, "I guess, since you weren't there that's all I can really ask for."

Cole smiled at them, "That's more than enough. Thank you both."

* * *

When they got near the bridge they descended back to the street. Zeke ran up to them. "Stampton Bridge fastest way out of here. If you can get us past those baton-wielding goons, that is," Zeke said.

"We're getting out of here, one way or another. Follow my lead," Cole told them.

They walked up to the blockade and blended into the crowd. Cole had a decision to make. _'We are going to have to get past those riot cops if we are to get out of here. If I fry a couple of the guards from inside of the crowd, I could probably start a riot. Keep the heat off of us, but then a lot of people will get the hell kicked out of them.'_ Cole thought about it and dismissed the idea. _'I'm already on thin ice with the people in the city, Zeke, and Spike. If I do that then they'll have all the more reason to hate me. Plus, Twilight trusts me. I'm not going to betray that, just to make things easier on me.'_ Just the thought of betraying Twilight's trust disgusted Cole so much it left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Right," his mind made up Cole strode forward, Twilight and Spike close behind him, while Zeke hung back. As they got closer they charged at the guards. Cole charged his electric blades and used a blade to hit one guard each, where they were rammed into the gate. Twilight shot beams to scatter them and knock them out, she hit two of them and they dropped like a ton of bricks. Spike ran at the nearest guard and punched him through the protective face plate he was wearing, he then swung his tail around to hit the guard standing next to him. The last two were taken down by a sizeable rock that was dropped on one of their heads and a bolt to the other's head.

"Okay now that that's done. I'll charge the power source, so we can move on," Cole said. He aimed at the device next to the gate and shot several bolts at it. When all of the lights were green the gate rose. As they ran forward, they saw guards standing on the containers and jumped behind the barricades for cover. They saw Zeke trying to shoot them, but with all of the armor they had on it didn't do much.

They took the guards down with quick beams and bolts. Cole looked at her as they moved forward, "How come you keep using different ways to attack?"

"If I don't change it up they might learn how to deal with my attacks," Twilight answered.

"I highly doubt they could come up with a counter measure, but if it helps you then keep at it," Cole said.

As they got where the guards were, they started to pass the containers. They barely went a few inches before jumping back to avoid the turret fire.

"How the hell are we going to get past that?" Zeke asked.

"Like this," Twilight answered. She teleported behind the turret-man, charged her magic into her hand and brought it down onto the man's head. The man fell limp on the turret.

They walked from behind the shipping containers. Cole smiled at her, "Nice."

Twilight blushed at his smile and could feel her heart hammering. She wondered why he made her feel so flustered.

They turned and headed to the exit. As they neared the stacked containers, they decided to climb them, in case there were more turrets. When they looked over the edge they saw that they were right to be cautious. There was a turret on each side of the boxes.

"I'll drop on top of one of them and you take the other," Cole said to Twilight.

She was about to nod when Spike asked, "Hey Twilight, can I do it?"

She hesitated for a moment, but then relented, "Alright. Just be careful, okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be careful," Spike nodded to Cole and they positioned themselves above each turret-man.

They jumped over the turrets. Cole gathered electricity into his fists. He slammed them into the ground and sent a shock wave across the area, which sent the guard flying into the fences. When Spike reached the peak of his jump he blew green fire around himself and, as he fell, spun himself bringing the emerald flames closer around him. He slammed into the ground and sent the guard across the yard, looking slightly charred. The gun was red hot and wouldn't be used against them again.

Cole and Zeke walked up to him, grinning, "That was cool, Spike," Cole said.

"Cool? That was downright awesome!" Zeke exclaimed.

Spike blushed a little at their praise, but puffed out his chest. "It was nothing."

Twilight rolled her eyes, smiling, "Nice job, Spike."

They turned toward the second gate. Cole charged the panel and raised it.

They walked through it and heard a great deal of gunfire. Zeke turned to Cole, "Hey man, you should try and hang from those containers and try shootin' 'em. It will make you a harder target."

He nodded and did as Zeke suggested. He took out the guards on top of the containers with well aimed bolts to the head. He pulled himself onto it and shot the last guard that was out in the open. The were more turrets just behind the containers. He headed to the one on the left. He saw Twilight climbing to get a vantage point for the other turret. Cole ran around the corner and charged at the guard and punch his lights out. Twilight jumped from where she was, and concentrated her magic into her foot. She then brought it down on the guard's head, slamming him to the ground.

As they continued forward, they saw another turret on top a container. Spike jumped onto it and charged toward the turret-man. He smashed through the barricade and hit him in the stomach. He noticed one last turret and jumped at it, blowing a stream of fire at the gun to melt it. Before it melted, the gunpowder was heated and blew up. The explosion knocked the guard back, knocking him out.

They walked up to the gate as Cole opened it. "Hey man, head to the quarantine station! That's our ticket out of here!" Zeke called.

Before they could move, the people that were at the front gate rushed past them. As they got to the middle of the area, the four of them witnessed a horrifying scene unfold.

* * *

 _There was a wall of razor wire and machine guns blocking passage across the bridge. The guns opened fire on the people trying to get across. Zeke and Spike rushed forward and smashed in the gate leading to the Decontamination Unit. They both fell headlong into the harbor._

 _I quickly picked Twilight up, who was petrified, and moved faster than I knew I could. I jumped across the gap and into through the doorway on the other side. Once inside we were greeted by name. I questioned how the hell she knew their names. I figured she knew mine because she was part of the government, but Twilight was from another world._

 _The woman, an FBI agent named Moya, answered that they found the surveillance video from before the blast. She had waited for us there figuring we would want to escape and knew we had powers. She then explained that her husband John had been assigned to infiltrate the First Sons. A shadowy group that were working on a project called the "Ray Sphere." The device was designed to drain the neuro-electric energy from a group of people and focus it into an individual._

 _The night of the blast was when she lost contact with John and, despite her connections, she was losing hope. However she found us, believing that we could be trusted, ready to make us an offer. We return to the city, find the Ray Sphere and John, and she'll get us out of the quarantine and clear our names. The whole thing surrounding the Ray Sphere sounded crazy to me, but I was suddenly a human light socket and connected to the woman I was carrying. Not to mention she was an alicorn with a dragon as a brother. So maybe I should give her the benefit of the doubt._

 _A hatch opened up behind us, leading to the bottom of the bridge. To keep her head from hitting the edge, I pulled Twilight's head forward and jumped down the hatch._

* * *

As Twilight and Cole fell through the opening, she noticed someone missing. Once Cole had set her down, she turned to him and asked, "Did you see what happened to Spike? After seeing so many people die-" the words caught in her throat as she thought back to that horrific moment. "I probably would have died too if you hadn't picked me up and charged through the gunfire."

He placed a hand on her shoulder, "He charged the gate that led to the Decontamination Unit with Zeke. They fell into the river. I'm sure they are fine." He paused and asked, "Was that the first time you've seen death?"

Twilight shook her head, "I've seen a funeral taking place and we have predators so death isn't a foreign concept, but that is nature. What happened back there was nothing more than slaughter," she said.

Cole could feel her shaking. He pulled her into a hug, "I'm sorry you had to see that, but unfortunately that's part of this world. However, you have my word that I will do my best to keep something like that from happening again."

As she stood there in his arms, Twilight realized something, 'I'm in love with Cole.' She felt warmth wash over her as she made that realization. At the same time she felt bad as he had just come out of a good relationship. She decided that she wouldn't tell him how she felt, at least not yet. She reluctantly got out of his arms. She looked up at him and smiled, "I feel a bit better. Thank you, Cole."

He felt his heart ache as he looked at her tear stained smile. It broke his heart to see this girl, so full of love and friendship, crying. Even if she can take care of herself, if what he assumed (from what she told him about her world) was correct, she comes from a world from either little conflict or conflict that is nothing like what happens in his world. He vowed again, this time to himself, that he would do his best to protect the woman in front of him.

He smiled back at her, "Let's get back to land."

At that moment Moya called Cole, "Because of the riot topside, this is the only way back into the city. Given our new 'partnership', I've cloned your phone's frequency. I've got a lock on your GPS locator, and I can hear every word you say."

Twilight scowled. "Wonderful," she said sarcastically.

"Right let's get out of here," Cole said. He looked around for a way to get back. Seeing the poles that were only being held up by rusty hooks, he shot them. He shot all of the ones he could reach. "There, that should help get us across." He leapt to the poles, Twilight right behind him. They ran across the pipes under the bridge.

As they got closer Cole saw a couple of Reapers on the platform in front of, them busting the pipes that were under the bridge. 'I see some kerosene cans near them, if I shoot them I won't have to directly deal with the Reapers, but it could kill them and I just promised Twilight that I would try my best to not let people die. Even if they are bastards, I'm going to try and limit the amount of death she has to witness,' he thought. So, with that, he took aim at the Reapers and took them out from a distance without hitting the kerosene. When they got to the platform, he checked to see if they were alive. They were just unconscious.

Twilight looked at him, smiling, "I'm glad you didn't kill them, but if you have to choose between killing them and saving innocent people, please save the people, even if you have to kill the bad guys."

Cole nodded, "Of course. Come on." They turned away from the Reapers and walked to the side. "It looks like the only way to the other side is to sidle across this pipe." He looked around the corner and added, "Be careful there are some pipes spraying some kind of gas down."

They got on to the pipe and slowly sidled across the thin metal, carefully avoiding the gas. When they got to the end of the pipe, Cole saw a wire and spoke to Twilight, "Looks like we are going to have to jump to that and swing ourselves across." He jumped first and grabbed the wire, then moved forward a little so she could get on. He looked over just in time to see her barely miss the cable. Cole reached his hand out and grabbed her hand, "Are you okay, Twilight?"

"Yes Cole, I'm fine. Will you help me up?" she asked.

"Alright, I'm going to swing you forward. Be ready to grab the wire, okay?" Cole told her. At her nod he started to swing himself back and forth. When got a good momentum going he pulled Twilight up with all of his strength. She grabbed the wire when she got near it. They let go of each others hand and quickly grabbed the cable with their other hand. They swung to the platform and once they were above it dropped down.

Moya called, "Cole, Twilight, the water pressure is dropping from the main running under the bridge. What's happening down there?"

"Some Reapers were busting up some pipes," he answered.

"Interesting," she said, "I'll see what I can find. You two worry about getting to the city." As the call ended, they went about shooting the poles down.

They jumped to the pipe. When they landed on it one side busted. Twilight jumped to the nearest pole, while Cole jumped to the next one. He grabbed the bottom ring that went around the light at the end. He pulled himself up on to the pole.

"Cole, I see a platform with some Reapers on it. I'm going to teleport to it and take them out, while you head over there," Twilight told him.

"Okay, just be careful," he said.

"Of course," she disappeared in a flash.

As Cole made his way through the broken pipes, Moya contacted him again, "Don't forget who's holding your reins, you two. You find John and the Ray Sphere, and I get you out of there, no questions asked. But if you double-cross me, or do something stupid, I will throw you both into a hole so deep that you won't even know which way is up. Understand?"

Cole, rolling his eyes and smirking, thought, _'I highly doubt that would be a problem for Twilight.'_ He said to her, "Yes, I understand. Though I doubt Twilight would like me double-crossing you and I highly doubt she would let me do anything stupid. She's so smart and analytical that she would know a stupid idea from a smart one."

"Don't get smart with me, Cole." With that she ended the call.

When he got to the platform he saw Twilight standing over two unconscious Reapers. She looked over as he landed on the platform.

She smiled at him, "Hey. I took care of them."

"Nice job, Twilight," Cole complimented. "Well, there's the city. I think these pipes are going to fall as well, so you teleport or fly over and I'll meet you over there."

"Okay," she said. She spread her wings and flew across, with Cole following behind her.

When they got back on solid land Spike and Zeke ran up to them.

"Cole! Twilight!" they called.

"Man, I'm glad to see the two of you are okay," Zeke said.

Spike ran to Twilight and hugged her, "I'm so glad you're not hurt."

Twilight smiled and hugged him back, "I'm fine, Spike. You can thank Cole that I'm alive. I was just standing there paralyzed, but Cole picked me up and ran through the opening you two made."

He looked at him, "Thank you, Cole."

Cole smiled at him, "It was no problem, Spike. Speaking of the opening, nice going on that you two."

"Hell, we lived through the fall, no problem. But gettin' back to shore, well, let's just say I'm no Michael Phelps," Zeke said.

"Yeah, that's an understatement," Cole joked.

"Hey, take it easy Lightning Rod. So how the hell'd you guys live through that? Bullets flyin' everywhere. I figured the two of you were goners. I mean, don't get me wrong I hoped the two of you were okay, but that was crazy," Zeke said.

"Let's all head home. We'll fill you guys in on the way," Cole said.


End file.
